CH 82

“I started a retail business in a commercial guild, but I couldn't sell my products.”

Translated by Dawn

“I started a retail business in a commercial guild, but I couldn’t sell my products.”

The day after I made some accessories, I visited a commercial guild. In contrast to the Adventurers’ Guild, the guild was a clean and neat building, giving the impression of a high-class establishment.

As it was kept clean and free of dust, probably because the main business of the guild was to serve customers.

As with the Adventurers’ Guild, there were several reception counters set up in front of the entrance, each of which had a beautiful receptionist in charge of serving visitors.

One of the counters was open, so I walked toward it. At the counter was a beautiful, if not exquisite, woman of odd age with a well-developed face.

“Welcome. Welcome to the Commercial Guild. How may I help you?”

As I was a child who had not yet reached adulthood, I thought I would be underestimated, but I was inwardly impressed with how well she handled the situation. This conveyed the commercial spirit of the people who, not knowing where the seeds of money-making might lie, were willing to bow down to even a child for the time being.

Relieved that she listened to me for the time being, I told her about why I had come to the guild.

“I want to sell a few small items, do I need to register with the guild?”

“I understand. Then please fill out as much of this document as possible.”

With that, the receptionist offered me a document to register with the Commercial Guild. The document was not very complicated and included basic personal information such as name and hometown, as well as a few small confirmations such as whether or not the applicant currently owned a store.

I looked it over, filled in the sections I was comfortable with filling in and submitted it to the receptionist. When she received it and finished looking it over, she opened her mouth again.

“Well then, Rolando-sama. I, Kanene, will be in charge today. Please come this way.”

I followed her lead and was taken to the reception room. Apparently, she understood the basics of business transactions. For the dealers and merchants who bring in their goods, the goods they handled were sometimes confidential, so the transactions were basically conducted in the reception room where no third party was present.

This was also a measure to prevent information from being passed on to other business rivals, so commercial guilds were very thorough about the leakage of such information.

“Please wait a moment. The person in charge will come shortly.”

Just as the receptionist finished saying this, the door to the room was opened. The man who appeared was a middle-aged man in his fifties, with a thin head of hair and a plump stomach caused by his daily inactivity, giving him a melancholy look.

“Haa, you tell me someone wants to see me, but it turns out to be just a little boy.”

(Ah, this guy’s no good.)

With that one word from the middle-aged man, I understood his personality and beckoned the receptionist who showed me around and whispered into her ear, “Go get the guildmaster quickly.” 

The receptionist indicated her understanding and left the reception room. Apparently, it was well known within the guild that the person in front of me was of bad character. As evidence of this, the receptionist who received my words immediately went to call the guild master.

“So, you have something you want to sell. What is it?”

“This.”

With that said, I pulled out an accessory I had made yesterday from storage, disguised as if I had taken it out of my magic bag. I saw the man’s eyes narrow when he saw it, and I could see his eyes widen as he looked at the accessory. Apparently, he realized the value of this accessory. However, judging from the wry smile on the corner of his mouth, he was not going to make a serious deal with me.

“Hmmm, this is nothing much. Even if you sell it, it won’t fetch a very high price.”

“How much would that be exactly?”

“This amu…bracelet over here is only a medium silver coin at best. The rest of them are two large copper coins.”

Oi, oi, isn’t that too low? Is this guy serious, pricing 30 million yen worth at 10,000 yen and 3,000 yen worth at 200 yen? Moreover, the fact that he went to the trouble of changing the word “amulet” to “bracelet” suggests that he’s trying to get a good deal on it.

Exhaling a sigh inwardly at the expected result, I did a final check to make sure that the value the man had given was correct.

“Is that your assessment of me as a merchant?”

“You have a problem with my assessment!?”

“No. I’m just checking. Are you really saying that this product is worth that much in your eyes?”

“You’re just a little kid who hasn’t grown up yet, and you’re questioning my assessment of it! Just shut up and sell the ornaments!”

“So noisy in here. What’s going on?”

Just when things were getting out of hand, a man entered the reception room at the exact same time as if he had timed it. He was a middle-aged man in his early forties, but he looked cleaner and more sincere than the bald man in front of me……and he had the air of a successful merchant.

As soon as he came in, I explained the situation to him and asked him to do the assessment as well. The answer I received was, as I should say, very different from the amount of money the first man had initially offered.

“This is wonderful. This bracelet has nothing in the way of its effect, but each stone is the right size and is worth it just for the beauty of its appearance. If it were me, yes, I would pay…… two small silver coins, or even three. This one is even more wonderful. It looks like a purification amulet, but this stone also has the right amount of grains and is quite expensive as an ornament and amulet. I would estimate it at a low price of two medium gold coins……or even five if you include the value as an ornament.”

Saying this, the fresh middle-aged man excitedly told me the results of his assessment. By the look of things, I guess it was decided that the middle-aged man in charge of the purchase tried to buy this item outright. If that was the case, there was only one course of action for me to take.

“I see. You’re the guildmaster then, right?”

“Speaking of which, I apologize for my late introduction. My name is Kascher Berchem, and I am the guildmaster of this commercial guild. I come from a noble family, but nowadays I am no different from an ordinary commoner, so please do not be concerned about it.”

“I’m Rolando. An adventurer. So. There’s a reason I asked you to evaluate these items. The man there assessed the purchase price of these two items at one medium silver coin and two large copper coins.”

“……Nemad, is that true?”

“T-that’s…”

The man called Nemad was puzzled by the guildmaster’s question, sweat beading on his forehead as he replied. The guildmaster’s voice, though calm, was clearly filled with anger, and his tone was filled with a reproachful “You did it, didn’t you?”

Personally, I wanted to raise a more fundamental issue, not about the fact that he tried to buy up the goods I had brought in. That was why I put the items I had taken out into my magic bag and got up from the couch where I was sitting.

“Guildmaster Kascher . I don’t consider this man’s attempt to buy my goods to be a problem in and of itself. I think the problem is that he knew the value of the goods he was appraising, but ignored it and acted to the detriment of his trading partner, and I think the problem is that the commercial guilds employ such people.”

“W-we apologize for the inconvenience. We will immediately purchase the items at a fair price–”

“No, this deal is off. My trust in the commercial guilds has been shattered by this. So I’m going to give you a chance to make up for it.”

“A chance?”

Kascher’s face turned pale at my dismissal, but he was puzzled by my next words. I guess this situation must have looked very strange from the outside. It wasn’t every day that a 12-year-old kid was lecturing two old men.

With this in mind, I made a condition to Kascher.

“I’ll give you ten days. In those ten days, do something about the people who think like that old man there. If you can’t do that, I’ll never use the commercial guild again.”

“I understand…I’ll take care of it.”

“Listen, this is not just a matter for me and the commercial guilds. This is a matter that affects the good name of all the commercial guilds all over the continent”

Commercial guilds were impartial and neutral in all their business dealings. That was why, over the years, the guild had developed into such a huge organization that even the national government could not touch it.

If the guilds, which were in a neutral position, were not trading at a fair price, it could become a credibility problem. And the problem would not be limited to one city’s commercial guild but would spread to all the commercial guilds.

Rumors, whether good or bad, could easily be passed on to others. In particular, bad rumors, whether true or false, were transmitted at an unusually high rate.

Even on the Internet, bad news tended to leave a stronger impression than good news and was more likely to spread around. The same was true in this case.

“Then, I’ll take my leave now. I look forward to seeing you in ten days.”

With these words, I left the room without waiting for Kascher’s reply.

After leaving the room, I was in a state of deep internal confusion. The reason was simple and clear: I had done it.

(Damn, I thought I was going to be able to get a new gold scheme, and here I am getting interrupted by a cliche…….)

I didn’t expect him to offer the price that low, so I had no choice but to argue. I didn’t work until late at night, but I still worked pretty hard to make them. And yet my accessories weren’t getting the right price!

“U-umm…”

I told KASCHER to improve the personnel in the guild, but I wonder how much it would improve…….maybe nothing would change. If I were in his shoes, would I listen to the words of a boy I just met?

“Excuse me.”

But still, I was in trouble. If I couldn’t sell my products at the guild, I would have to bring them to a private merchant association or open my own stall and hand sell them, but I was new in town and didn’t know a single merchant. On the other hand, if I were to sell by myself, it would interfere with my time to attack the dungeon, what should I do……

“U-um! Rolando-sama!”

“Yeah? Ah, the receptionist.”

“It’s Kaneine. We have completed your new registration process and would you like to receive your guild card now?”

“Okay.”

It appeared that it was KANEINE, the receptionist, who had approached me earlier, and although I would not be using the guild until the day of my appointment with KASCHER, I decided to pick up my guild card, just in case since I had already completed the necessary formalities.

As I headed to the reception counter, I passed a merchant who had just finished some procedures and bumped into him. I was not that tall, so I bumped into him around the waist…….

“Oops.”

“Ah, sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry too…wait, aren’t you that boy, Rolando?”

“Yes, but who are you?”

He suddenly called my name, and I looked at his face thinking I knew him, but there was the face of a man I had never met before, whom I did not know at all. Neither he nor I knew yet that this encounter would turn out to be a strange one for him and me.